AP-MTV Poll: Young people jaded by slurs online

[웃 910]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Young people immersed in the online world are encountering racist and sexist slurs and other name-calling that probably would appall their parents and teachers. And most consider it no big deal, a new poll says.

Teens and twentysomethings say in an Associated Press-MTV poll that people feel freer to use hurtful language when texting on their cellphones or posting to sites like Facebook than they would face to face. Half the young people regularly see discriminatory slang - including racial taunts and words like "#######," "**" and "retard" - and the majority say they aren't very offended by it.

Those surveyed are twice as likely to say biased slurs are used to be funny as they are to think that the user is expressing hateful feelings toward a group of people. Another popular reason: to sound cool.

"They might be really serious, but you take it as a joke," said Kervin Browner II, 20, a junior at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich. He's black but says the ugly words he sees are generally aimed at women, not minorities. And although Browner doesn't like it, he doesn't protest when his friends use those words on Twitter. "That's just how it is," he said. "People in their own minds, they think it's cool."

When the question is asked broadly, half of young people say using discriminatory words is wrong. But 54 percent think it's OK to use them within their own circle of friends, because "I know we don't mean it." And they don't worry much about whether the things they tap into their cellphones and laptops could reach a wider audience and get them into trouble.

Those who use slurs are probably offending more people than they realize, even within their own age range. The poll of 14- to 24-year-olds shows a significant minority are upset by some pejoratives they encounter online, especially when they identify with the group being targeted.

"It's so derogatory to women and demeaning, it just makes you feel gross," Lori Pletka, 22, says about "#######" and more vulgar words aimed at women. The Southeast Missouri State University senior said she regularly sees other offensive terms, too - for black people, Hispanics and gays.

But even the most inflammatory racist slur in the AP-MTV poll - the "N-word" - didn't rouse a majority of young people. Only 44 percent said they'd be very or extremely offended if they saw someone using it online or in a text message. Thirty-five percent said it wouldn't bother them much, including fully 26 percent who wouldn't be offended at all.

Among African-American youth, however, 60 percent said they would be offended by seeing the N-word used against someone.

Four in 10 young people overall said they encounter that word being used against other people, with half of those seeing it often.

Other derogatory expressions are more common and accepted. Majorities see "#######" and "**" used against others, and only about a third consider them seriously offensive.

But 41 percent of women deem "#######" deeply offensive (jumping to 65 percent if it's used against them specifically), compared with only 28 percent of men. And 39 percent of those who are gay or know someone who is gay are seriously offended by the use of "**," compared with 23 percent of all others.

Demeaning something with "that's so gay" is so common that two-thirds of young people see it used, and the majority aren't offended at all, despite a public-service ad campaign that tried to stamp out the anti-gay slang.

A similar effort by the Special Olympics and others to persuade kids not to use "retard" hasn't hit home with half of those surveyed, who don't find the word even moderately bothersome. Twenty-seven percent are seriously offended, however.

Some teens just text the way they talk. Calling each other "gay" and "retarded" is routine in high school, says Robert Leader, 17, a senior in Voorhees, N.J. So teens text it, too.

But constantly seeing ugly words on their electronic screens may have a coarsening effect. "It's caused people to loosen their boundaries on what's not acceptable," Leader said.

What group gets picked on the most? Those who are overweight. And slurs against the overweight are more likely to be considered intentionally hurtful than slights against others; 47 percent say these comments are meant to sting.

Muslims and gays also are seen as targets of mean-spiritedness.

In contrast, only a third say discriminatory words about blacks are most often intended as hurtful, while two-thirds think they are mostly jokes. And 75 percent think slurs against women are generally meant to be funny.

That blase attitude could lead them in trouble.

Four out of 10 young people have given little or no thought to the ease with which their electronic messages could be passed to people they didn't expect to see them; less than a quarter have thought about it a lot. Two-thirds haven't considered that what they type could get them in trouble with their parents or their school. But it happens.

A 13-year-old Concord, N.H., girl was suspended from school for posting on Facebook that she wished Osama bin Laden had killed her math teacher. The University of Texas Longhorns dismissed a sophomore football player for his racial slam against Barack Obama on Facebook after the 2008 presidential election. And a Harvard law student's email to friends, suggesting that blacks might be intellectually inferior, was forwarded across the Internet, prompting the law school dean to publicly denounce it.

"People have that false sense of security that they can say whatever they want online," said Pletka of Cape Girardeau, Mo. "Anything that you put into print can be used."

The AP-MTV poll was conducted Aug. 18-31 and involved online interviews with 1,355 people ages 14-24 nationwide. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

The poll is part of an MTV campaign, "A Thin Line," aiming to stop the spread of digital abuse.

The survey was conducted by Knowledge Networks, which used traditional telephone and mail sampling methods to randomly recruit respondents. People selected who had no Internet access were given it for free.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_POLL_ONLINE_SLURS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-09-20-08-01-57

[slim 1,514]

I'll be glad when all those "bad words" are acceptable in common usage. People are way to f*#)@ing sensitive.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

I'm amused that they think the young people are just 'using' the language.

The truth is that this upcoming generation is the most racist generation we've seen in a very long time. They aren't just dropping the 'N' bomb just to drop it. They are being dead serious when they use it. That's the scary part that many don't realize as of yet.

Words are just words a lot of times, but that's not the case with this generation.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

They're casual ideas about being crude and rude don't form in a vacuum. Good manners start at home.

I'm amused that they think the young people are just 'using' the language.

The truth is that this upcoming generation is the most racist generation we've seen in a very long time. They aren't just dropping the 'N' bomb just to drop it. They are being dead serious when they use it. That's the scary part that many don't realize as of yet.

Words are just words a lot of times, but that's not the case with this generation.

Edited September 21, 2011 by Sofiyya

[Obama 2012 1,714]

They're casual ideas about being crude and rude don't form in a vacuum. Good manners start at home.

In some cases, yes.

That's the difference with this generation however. This generation is the internet generation. Parents can only teach so much, and unfortunately (while it may be the fault of the parents for letting be on the computer) the internet has created a whole new way for kids to learn and understand people. They are influenced in different ways from previous generations.

The media and social groups are often times fooled by the difference in 'acceptance' and 'prejudice' towards certain groups. This younger generation accepts that all classes of people exist/have the same rights. However they are quite prejudicial in the way they think about them and how they think they should be treated.

The dangerous aspect of this is they keep it behind closed doors (for now) because they know that if they are exposed in public for their views they're will be an outcry from the older generations. Once this generation becomes conscious of itself however, I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see a resurrgance of certain racial hate groups. It's the damn bad.

[^_^ 5,021]

In some cases, yes.

That's the difference with this generation however. This generation is the internet generation. Parents can only teach so much, and unfortunately (while it may be the fault of the parents for letting be on the computer) the internet has created a whole new way for kids to learn and understand people. They are influenced in different ways from previous generations.

The media and social groups are often times fooled by the difference in 'acceptance' and 'prejudice' towards certain groups. This younger generation accepts that all classes of people exist/have the same rights. However they are quite prejudicial in the way they think about them and how they think they should be treated.

The dangerous aspect of this is they keep it behind closed doors (for now) because they know that if they are exposed in public for their views they're will be an outcry from the older generations. Once this generation becomes conscious of itself however, I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see a resurrgance of certain racial hate groups. It's the damn bad.

These things are cyclical. I don't think you're wrong.

[Danno 1,228]

They're casual ideas about being crude and rude don't form in a vacuum. Good manners start at home.

I might agree with you when we speak of how people act in public.... but people and kids especially take on the language and mannerisms of their friends and peers.

The only change in slur words I have seen is the growing use of "N_gger", mostly by Blacks and the way kids disparage girls with terms like "#######" "B_tch" and ho. it's become such a common term, a persons character has nothing to do with being labeled.

It would take, huge overburdening Government involvement to control the expression of teens

however, this country is closer to taking such measures than we ever have before.

[^_^ 5,021]

I might agree with you when we speak of how people act in public.... but people and kids especially take on the language and mannerisms of their friends and peers.

The only change in slur words I have seen is the growing use of "N_gger", mostly by Blacks and the way kids disparage girls with terms like "#######" "B_tch" and ho. it's become such a common term, a persons character has nothing to do with being labeled.

It would take, huge overburdening Government involvement to control the expression of teens

however, this country is closer to taking such measures than we ever have before.

You're kidding, right? White kids and Asian kids use the N-word these days too. Not the N-g-e-r original but the N-g-a variant. It's become normal.

[Danno 1,228]

In some cases, yes.

That's the difference with this generation however. This generation is the internet generation. Parents can only teach so much, and unfortunately (while it may be the fault of the parents for letting be on the computer) the internet has created a whole new way for kids to learn and understand people. They are influenced in different ways from previous generations.

The media and social groups are often times fooled by the difference in 'acceptance' and 'prejudice' towards certain groups. This younger generation accepts that all classes of people exist/have the same rights. However they are quite prejudicial in the way they think about them and how they think they should be treated.

The dangerous aspect of this is they keep it behind closed doors (for now) because they know that if they are exposed in public for their views they're will be an outcry from the older generations. Once this generation becomes conscious of itself however, I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see a resurrgance of certain racial hate groups. It's the damn bad.

Don't we see this even recently with the Growth of the New Black Panther Party and groups "Youths" attacking innocent White and hispanic pedestrians?

[Danno 1,228]

You're kidding, right? White kids and Asian kids use the N-word these days too. Not the N-g-e-r original but the N-g-a variant. It's become normal.

You are right.

[The_Dude 1,142]

You're kidding, right? White kids and Asian kids use the N-word these days too. Not the N-g-e-r original but the N-g-a variant. It's become normal.

It's only people like danno that use the g-g-e-r version of the word. You hear the -g-g-a version in every day language, on the radio, in movies and on t.v. I wonder if they even know it is an actual slur anymore.

[Danno 1,228]

It's only people like danno that use the g-g-e-r version of the word. You hear the -g-g-a version in every day language, on the radio, in movies and on t.v. I wonder if they even know it is an actual slur anymore.

Just a bit of enlightenment....Nagga, is exactly how how it's pronounced and has been for a long long time ... by both Whites and Blacks in parts of the country.. maybe you feel comfy pronouncing it in this (safe) way you should know people in the north pronounce N_gger people in the deep South commonly pronounce this slur as #######.

Don't hide behind dialect.

[SMR 368]

I have always been puzzled by the basic acceptance in many parts of the media that the *gasp* N-word is the worst thing that can be said. I get that it's offensive. But there are lots of offensive things out there. Why is it given a virtual pass as being the worst thing out there. In high schools, for instance, the F-word is accepted as commonplace but using the N-word can get you a quick trip to the guidance counselor.

[The_Dude 1,142]

Just a bit of enlightenment....Nagga, is exactly how how it's pronounced and has been for a long long time ... by both Whites and Blacks in parts of the country.. maybe you feel comfy pronouncing it in this (safe) way you should know people in the north pronounce N_gger people in the deep South commonly pronounce this slur as #######.

Don't hide behind dialect.

Danno, i've lived in the south, and know how it is pronounced. You're full of sh!t.

[slim 1,514]

It's only people like danno that use the g-g-e-r version of the word. You hear the -g-g-a version in every day language, on the radio, in movies and on t.v. I wonder if they even know it is an actual slur anymore.

It's only offensive if a white person says it.